A Review of The Famous and the Dead by T. Jefferson Parker

The Famous and the Dead
by T. Jefferson Parker
Dutton Adult: April 18, 2013

This book is the final chapter in the series featuring Charlie Hood. This is a confusing book if you haven’t read the previous books in the series. There are devils and angels, and crooked cops delivering cash to the drug cartels in Mexico. One of the devils is holding an angel captive in a pit in a cave. The same devil gives a gun to a crazy guy and suggests that he use it to assassinate a politician. There are a lot of story lines that continue from earlier books in this series, but even if you aren’t at all familiar with the Charlie Hood books you will eventually be able to figure out what is going on. You won’t enjoy it as much as someone would who had read the whole series

I have only read a couple of the books in this series, so I was one of the people who had to work a little bit harder at understanding the intertwined stories. Some of the story was a bit contrived and didn’t have that ring of truth that the best novels provide.

I give this book 3 stars out of 5 and only recommend it to Charlie Hood fans.

I received this book for free from NetGalley.com.Book Description
Release date: April 18, 2013

The explosive conclusion to T. Jefferson Parker’s New York Times bestselling Charlie Hood series
Los Angeles County sheriff ’s deputy Charlie Hood is attached to the ATF, working undercover on the iron river that flows across the U.S.-Mexican border. The diamond fillings he wears in his left canine glimmer, distracting the men who sell the illegal firearms that enable the unspeakable violence on both sides of the map. Spotting the sparkle when “Charlie Diamonds” opens his mouth is often their first step toward life behind bars.

Meanwhile, Bradley Jones, sheriff ’s deputy and employee of the Baja Cartel, son of the love of Charlie’s life, the deceased L.A. outlaw Suzanne Jones, is expecting a son of his own. Suzanne was descended from famed Mexican desperado Joaquin Murrieta, whose embalmed head Bradley inherited from her and keeps nestled among piles of cash, proceeds from Bradley’s own life of crime.

Charlie knows all of Bradley’s secrets; the question is what he’ll do with the information. Until he decides, his obsession remains the inexplicable existence of Mike Finnegan, the diminutive devil who flits in and out of both men’s lives, knowing things he shouldn’t, seemingly immortal.

Three men: earnest law-enforcer, inveterate lawbreaker, and the man who pits them against each other—hurtle toward one another in the jaw-dropping conclusion to T. Jefferson Parker’s mesmerizing vision of the border. Their climactic showdown brings to a spectacular close a crime series that obliterated the boundaries of the genre.

Jefferson Parker is the bestselling and award-winning author of nineteen previous novels and a three-time winner of the Edgar Award. Formerly a journalist, Parker lives with his family in southern California.